Robert DiNardo Jr.
(Baseball, 2005)
This 2005 Danbury High graduate was an impact player in both baseball and
basketball, 2024 Hall of Fame inductee, Robert DiNardo Jr. A varsity baseball player for
four years, the DHS team won the State Championship in 2004. During the epic
championship run, Bobby hit the winning hit in the quarterfinal game versus Branford in
the 9th inning to send the team to the semi-final game. During his senior year, Bobby
batted .413 with 20 RBI’s. Also, during his senior year, he had an eight-game hitting
streak with 11 hits in five games, and he hit safely in 18 of 22 games. Also, during his
senior year, Bobby was named All-FCIAC, All-State Scholar Athlete, News-Times All
Area and played in the FCIAC North vs South All-Star game.
Winning many games seemed to come easy to Bobby and his teammates during
their playing years. When he was a 12-year old, his baseball team won the Cal Ripken
World Championship. The DHS Baseball team won the FCIAC in 2003. They were
FCIAC West Champs in 2004 and 2005. In 2004, the State Championship year, the
team registered their most wins in history going 24-2.
For the Danbury Hatter Boys Basketball team, Bobby was a three-year varsity
letter winner and was named to the First Team All-State Academic his senior year.
During his junior year, the team went 16-4, and 15-5 his senior year. The basketball
team qualified for both the FCIAC’s and the state tournament. Coach Tom Pardalis, who
was Bobby’s basketball coach says of his all-around skill and ability, “Bobby was the
first “point-forward”, used against pressing teams like Harding, Bridgeport Central and
Bassick. His ability to handle the ball as a big man in pressure situations helped break
down the pressure of the great defensive teams.” At the end of his senior year, Bobby
was named DHS’s Male Scholar Athlete of the Year.
After Bobby’s graduation from DHS in 2005, he continued his academic and
athletic career at Fordham University. He was on the baseball team for four years,
starting his freshman, sophomore, junior and senior years. His best stats were his
senior season when he was selected to the Atlantic 10 Academic All- Conference team
and the ECAC All-Star Second team. Bobby paced the Fordham offense and ranked
among the top power threats in the Atlantic 10, finishing tied for third with 15 home runs
and had the fifth-best slugging percentage (.640) in the conference. Bobby was first on
the team in RBI’s (49) and walks (38), while ranking second in doubles (13) and runs
scored (44). He batted .317 over 50 games and added eight stolen bases. Bobby also
cemented his name in the Fordham baseball record books, ranking fourth all-time in
homeruns, tenth all-time in doubles, fifth all-time in RBI’s and eleventh all-time in total
bases. In the summer of 2021, Bobby was named as the first baseman on Fordham
Baseball’s Atlantic 10 Conference 25-Year Anniversary Team. Bobby went on to earn his law degree and is a Special Counsel for Cadwalader, Wickesham & Taft LLP in New York City.